About me

From the AVM SURVIVORS web site: "Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are defects of the circulatory system that are generally believed to arise during embryonic or fetal development or soon after birth. Although AVMs can develop in many different sites, those located in the brain or spinal cord can have especially widespread effects on the body".
I am currently undergoing embolizations with Dr. Wayne Yakes @ the Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO every 8 weeks! Our lives are either planning a procedure, having a procedure or recovering from a procedure! The trick lately seems to be to keep the "bleeds" under control! My husband Mark is also my caregiver! He has become an expert wound care therapist, not to mention all around bundle of being just exactly what I need to get through the day and this ordeal we call an AVM! I recently finished 10 years of Embolizations w/Dr. Yakes and am finally ready for my next stage - Debulking and reconstructive surgery w/Dr. Robinson in CO - he is a dentist and plastic surgeon! Best advice to an avm patient - Stay positive and surround yourself with supportive people! Lots of faith, prayer and love are all crucial too!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Hi Family and Friends!

Hoping all of you are doing better than I am right now! You know, most of the time when all of you see me, I'm happy (or try to be!) and making the best of my situation. Today is not one of those days! I'm not the brave person you think I am - I'm the person that is tired, very tired of dealing w/this avm! I was hoping by now the steroids I got would kick in and really make me feel better, but no ... not yet! My left eye is a little less puffy, but I have a piercing pain in my ear and the whole left side of my face hurts. I have spurts where I'm ok - but gosh, this evening I'm in pain! I had my little "I'm feeling sorry for myself cry" with Mark tonight and I called to talk to Celia. Celia can't talk right now - her voice has left her what w/her allergies and all! She is preserving her voice for an important funeral she needs to sing at soon! So, Greg and answered the phone and made me laugh - even though I did cry with him a bit. I told him, "Poor guy, first the wife and now the sister"! I felt better sharing some laughs with him ... and now I'm hoping that my feeling bad will mean that Mark will clean the kitchen tonight so I won't have to! Tee Hee! (That is the evil part of the avm talking)! Where does all our time go? Seems all I have time for now is washing my face and ironing the clothes I'll wear tomorrow!

I enjoyed the Stephenie Meyers books so much, I'm starting Twilight again, and enjoying it just as much!

Hey! Saba and I both did our good deeds today! Well, earlier, one of my co-workers came by (well she works on our floor) and was asking for donations for the Diabetes Walk that was going on soon. So I gave her some money and got a chance to invite her to view my blog and Shalons when she has a chance! She said she sees me often @ HEB! I'm hoping she'll look us up and hopefully learn more about avms! Also, on my way to have lunch with Mark, I had debated on taking Saba with me ... and opted to bring her and as I walked down the hall, one of her shoes fell off! As I bent down to pick it up, I said out loud, "Oh! My kid lost her shoe"! There was an older lady in the hallway and she looked up and said, "Oh what a pretty bear"! She asked where I got her, etc. and I told her that Saba was my therapy bear! I explained that having her around makes me feel better, so I bring her to work and other places! She said her daughter was recuperating from a hysterectomy and had not had children. I told her I was never much for having kids, but that my cats and Saba are all I need (besides Mark of course!)! She thought that the bear was a great idea and wanted to get one for her daughter! I told the lady that Saba was a nice distraction and that I had fun dressing her. She wears the preemie size from Wal-Marts baby department! See! I'm feeling better already! Just knowing that Saba and I are inspiring people!

You know, when I was talking to Greg, he was telling me that by Saturday, Davis would be able to go to Galveston and maybe look @ his stuff. From what they hear, there is mold everywhere! Greg was saying that his brother Mike Fossum had been helping his son, along with the Scouts, to get houses cleaned in Houston that had been damaged from Hurricane Ike. Mike had told him that they had gone to help one guy that had already been back living in his house a week or so and it had a LOT of bad mold everywhere! That could have been us! Bless these poor people and let us keep praying for them to recover from the damages of the hurricane!

We hear that Davis is in a nice apt. w/his roommate from Galveston and two other guys already in College Station! He started classes today, and will probably be @ College Station for the rest of the semester! Davis said his girlfriend Mackenzie will take him shopping for things for the apartment because he didn't even have sheets for the bed! Davis wasn't sure what kind of set up he would have when he got up to College Station, so he didn't know what to take! He is so well adjusted!

Ok folks! Thanks for letting me vent! I know there are a lot of people worse off than I am, so I need to pull myself out of the mood I'm in! I hear rumors that my Uncle Louie and Aunt Betty might be coming for Thanksgiving, so that makes us here all very happy! I also heard Gregs younger brother Terry will also be here! Wow, the holidays are around the corner! Happy Fall, Y'all!

Cyndi

P.S. Ok, ok! I can't blog and not include a photo! So here goes! I have to include a photo of my fabulous brother-in-law Greg, since he made me laugh tonight! I'm including a photo of him wearing a Farkle necklace that the winner of the game Farkle gets to wear! And ... since he doesn't win often.... just kidding! We have a running joke with Greg - he gets exasperated w/the dice when he rolls them and doesn't get the points he wants, he'll say, "Piece of junk", "I hate this game"! Course that just makes all of us laugh! I think we put aside the dice that Greg used one night that he won a game of Farkle with in a baggie w/a slip of paper that had his score and we wrote "Gregs big win" on there, showing his winning score!

The other photo is the Awesome Mark Fossum - that will be turning 21 on September 28th! I still remember the day he was born! He is holding our fat cat Midori that Markie Poo Hoo (as Aunt Cyndi has been calling him since he was a toddler) has nicknamed "the ottoman"! Midori is a walking block of fur and Markie thought she'd make a nice ottoman! Hijole! I just had to add another photo of MPH - one where you can see his beautiful face! We were @ the Fossums - probably that same night we took that other photo of Greg when we played Farkle! For those of you who may not know ... to enlarge any of these photos, just click on it for a better and larger view!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hi everyone!

Well, lets see what's new ... mmmmm, well we've been visiting w/Davis, since he is home from college since Ike had all the kids evacuating from A&M Galveston! Uncle Mark and I went to the Fossums on Friday as Mark had lost a crown and wanted Greg to resecure it! Mark took everything needed to make a couple of his delicious chicken pot pies for dinner, so we all enjoyed that! Everyone had second helpings! Mark worked on Saturday w/his City job, while I did tons of laundry and cleaned the kitchen. Mom called and wanted us to "hang out" and we ended up going out to the island again, as she wanted to give Davis some of Grandmas chicken soup! Man do these kids rate or what? Mom even took masa to make tortillas for him! Markie Poo Hoo was in San Antonio visiting friends, so we didn't see him over the weekend!

As far as avm news : the area under my left eye is very swollen and puffy! That seems to happen a couple of weeks before I go back to CO and that sometimes means I'll have a bleed! Sure enough, on Monday night I was watching TV in the living room and felt something on my neck. Got up to look in the mirror and noticed blood on my hand where I had wiped my neck. Not much - but only because Mark had previously put surgicel on the wound area and that was helping keep the bleed from being really bad! Pulled off the tegaderm and everything covering up the wound and found where the bleed was coming from! Put another piece of surgicel on there and waited a bit before wrapping the wound up. (See photo Mark took before he wrapped up the wound. The white piece on the wound is the surgicel)! I've been having a bit of a hard time controlling the pain lately, so I've been calling Rhonda Sharp (Dr. Yakes P.A.) to prescribe some steroids to help w/the swelling and pain! She didn't return my call yesterday - she had Dr. Yakes nurse, Julie write me an e-mail that she would call me today.

Well, today I had an appt. w/another wound care place @ Spohn Hospital to get a second opinion on whether the Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment would benefit my wound. I'm lucky my Supervisor, Mr. Rios is very understanding about my avm situation and my having to go to all these appts.! Met w/Dr. Larkin and her nurse removed my wound bandages to take a look @ the wound. Dr. Larkin seemed to feel that the HBOT would not benefit my wound, but probably hurt it in the long run! Fine by me - I saw the tube they would put me in for the treatment and since I'm a bit claustrophobic, I was not looking forward to that @ all! I was just exploring my options and looking for something that might heal the wound area quicker! Dr. Larkin decided to use some different wound supplies - so instead of using ointment, and Aquacel Ag and non-adherant dressing, then mepilex and then the tegaderm: she wants to use XCell - Antimicrobial and that also has the silver like the Aquacel Ag, then the mepilex and then seal it w/the tegaderm! Dr. Larkin seems to feel this way I can change the dressing every 48 hours instead of every 24 hours like we have been doing! I have an appt. w/her Friday afternoon to look @ the wound area and see how it's doing! Mom was nice enough to pick me up @ work and go with me to my appt.! Also along for the ride was Saba! I told the Dr. that I like to bring my peeps on my appts!

Oh! Last night I finished reading Breaking Dawn! Wow! Can't wait for the movie Twilight (the first book of the Stephenie Meyers Series) to open on Nov. 21st!

Did anyone watch Dancing With The Stars last night? I was a bit disappointed! I was looking out for Kim Kardashian as I enjoy her Reality Show and thought she was ok. Susan Lucci is waaaay too thin! Yikes! She looks frail! Cloris Leechman looked healthier than Lucci! I don't have a super favorite person like in the past years when I was rooting for Kristi Yamaguchi or Apollo Ohno, so I may not tune in this season! Takes up too much time anyway!

Ok, we're heading to the grocery store now and hopefully my steroids will already be in! So, I'll be bouncing off the walls soon and lets see if my left eye gets back to normal!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Hi Everyone!

Wow! It seems like forever since I last blogged! I already heard about that from Shalon! She e-mailed me telling me I was MIA after the storm and I hadn't blogged either! So, even though I should iron my clothes for tomorrow ... or I would love to be in bed reading ... I love blogging even more!

Last week our family was discussing the possibility that Ike may be heading toward Corpus Christi! Mark works for the City of Corpus Christi, so he has to stay, no matter what! Mom wanted to evacuate, as did the Fossums of course because they live out on the island! Meanwhile, Davis and his roommate James evacuated Galveston probably Thursday of last week! As did my friend Dorinda from Pasadena (or as she calls it, "Stink-a-dina")! I work @ the courthouse and had told my supervisor that my family wanted to evacuate, so I put in a leave form to take Thursday off! We had heard that our office may be closed Thur./Friday - but no ... when it was all said and done, our office closed @ noon Thursday and all of Friday! Luckily (for us) Ike didn't come our way, so I had Thur., Fri., Sat. and Sunday off!

I finished my book Eclipse, and am already on page 300 or so of Breaking Dawn (see photo)! Mark calls me bobble-head, because I can't put the book down and I get so sleepy due to the meds, and my head just bobbles and I drop the book occasionally, but I don't want to stop reading it! Mark tried to slowly move the book from my hands, as I had fallen asleep w/it, but it woke me up! Had to read a bit more!

I hadn't really had much to blog about - but I know I had mentioned that Saba had a playdate weekend w/Ryan the monkey! Ryan belongs to a co-worker, Grace that will be getting married later this week! Now, Saba has a sister named Lucia! She is the Build a Bear my sister Celia made in CO - but then kinda just left Lucia behind @ Grandmas. I thought Lucia might enjoy living in our home w/another bear! Lucia was named after Josh Groban's violinist! Anyway - see photos of the furry kids! I take Saba w/me to work - she's my therapy bear and makes me feel good to have her around!

I've been doing so great w/no bleeds! Until .... yesterday, while @ work, I was feeling around my left ear area and some of the scab came off! (Spock isn't the only one w/weird ears - @ least my left one is)! Of course I soon saw that blood was also coming along - luckily I caught it before it even touched my polo shirt! My co-worker/friend Diana came to help me put some surgicel on the area since I couldn't see that myself too well!

Three weeks until we go to Colorado again! I always look forward to going on these trips - it means I'm one step closer to being done w/my embolizations! The other day one of the defendants that came in had a bandage over her throat area, so I was asking her about having a trache, since there is a possibility that I'll have to have one. She immediately said it was very manageable and not @ all a problem! Good to know!

Today during my work hours, I took the department deposit to the Tax Assessors Office and I hadn't been there in a while, so I was looking forward to saying hello to all the ladies who work in the area! They are all so friendly - so I'm sending a shout out to the bookkeepers @ the Tax Assessors that inquire after my health and issues! Let's congratulate Kathy who just got married in Vegas! Her new husbands name is Mark! Thanks ladies - you are part of my avm journey by keeping me in your prayers and always smiling @ me - making me feel normal!

Ok - lets hope all will remain in order w/out too many incidents/issues before I head back to see Dr. Yakes and the gang @ Swedish! Please keep my new friend Marijn from Holland in your prayers! He has an avm on his side and has been having bleeds, so he is hospitalized @ the moment! Marijn will be having surgery soon to remove the rest of his avm! Yikes!

We also pray for all the people that live in or near Galveston! Davis (see photo)(he is soooo handsome!) will have to finish his first semester @ College Station, since his college in Galveston will not be ready after all the damage from hurricane Ike!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hi Family & Friends!

Let me begin w/something fun! I've been taking Saba in to work w/me all this week! Well, I had taken some time off, so it was really only Wed.-Friday! She makes me feel better (my therapy bear) so I like taking her to work! Anyway, Grace, one of my co-workers, has a monkey from the Build a Bear collection and she had been telling me she would bring him in for a play date w/Saba! So, Friday, Ryan the monkey came in, so he and Saba spent the day together! (see photo) Grace would tell me that if Ryan didn't behave to let her know! Her fiance Raul is one of the courts baliffs, so when I saw him in the hall, he asked how Ryan was doing? I told him Ryan was in love! Right before the end of the day, I picked Ryan up and hugged him and she asked if I would like to take him for the weekend! "Oh yes"! I was so excited that she trusted me to take care of her furry kid for the weekend! Grace and her fiance Raul had put Ryan together and dressed him so cute in some khaki shorts and polo shirt! He's wearing an Astros baseball cap, but no shoes! That's ok - Saba lent him a pair of her brown sandals!

Got up this morning w/every intention of running some errands and meeting mom for lunch. As I mentioned before, I have been hacking w/the crud that is going around. I was ironing the shorts and t-shirt I would wear on my outing, and I could just hear the wheezing in my chest. I told Mark I just had to cough that gross phlegm out and I wanted to do that while I was @ home - just in case I had a bleed. So, I hacked and was trying to get that darned crud out and I could barely breathe, so I really coughed to get it out and sure enough - I started gushing blood! In seconds the front of my tank top was covered in blood and it ran down my arm and down my body! It's as if someone threw a bucket of blood @ me - I headed to the kitchen sink w/Mark following close behind! I immediately grabbed a mirror and started taking the dressing off as Mark was grabbing a paper towel and wetting it so I would be able to put it over the area that was bleeding and apply pressure! We can't get this done fast enough it seems! Mark helped me take that wet tank top off as I kept holding pressure on the wound site. Mark tossed the tank top in the washer and soaked it. I checked my wound area a couple times, until we found it had finally stopped bleeding. Got myself cleaned up and we headed to the area where I sit and Mark redressed the wound area. So that took a chunk of time out of our morning. Meanwhile, Mark gets a call from his supervisor @ work telling him there was an emergency and he needed to come in! Apparently the Memorial Colliseum had been broken into and since it's City property - Mark needed to go in and take care of the problem!

Mom called shortly afterward saying she was ready to run errands and go to lunch! I met her @ JoAnns as she is buying yarn to crochet the boys each a throw! After that, we headed to Red Lobster and it was super crowded! Mom called Markie Poo Hoo to see if he wanted to join us, but got his voicemail and mom left a message. Before hanging up, she added, "if you join us for lunch, I'll buy you crab legs"! Is that a bribe or what? It worked! Markie called a few minutes later and asked whether he had time for a shower before joining us. We had a 25 minute wait, so no problemo! We were so glad Markie could join us - he is hilarious and wonderful company! He had us laughing - so quick w/the wit!

During our lunch, a couple of the wait staff came over to compliment the furry kids that were sitting on booster seats next to me! As we enjoyed our lunch, we started to hear singing coming from a nearby table full of ladies - it was the Sweet Adelines! It was so cool and they got a big round of applause from everyone in the restaurant! They were celebrating a birthday from someone in their group!

Went to moms house for a bit, Vicente was heading out to his daughter Margarets house, so mom and I had time to visit. I went over some computer stuff w/mom and not long after, Vicente was home again. I was missing Mark and decided to head home myself, so here I am!

When I write about the bleeds - it's mainly to give y'all a chance to know something about the life we are living right now. I feel bad that we don't always have time to visit w/friends, or always answer e-mails, but these bleeds take a lot out of us sometimes! We've learned how to handle these situations, but it also interrupts what might have been a typical day. I just live for the weekend when I can relax @ home w/my wonderful husband and feel "safe" knowing if anything comes up w/my avm, I can deal w/it so much easier than when something happens @ work! Ok, I know I'm selfish, because when I'm home, I love, love, love to read and that's what takes up time too! I think I mentioned that the other day I called Rhonda Sharp (PA in CO) and asked whether we could cut back on the Neurontin - the med. that was making me so drowsy! I was staggering 4 of those capsules a day, so Rhonda told me to go back to taking 2 a day for the next couple of weeks. I'm telling you this because now that I'm not so darned drowsy, I've had a chance to complete New Moon and just started reading Eclipse from the Stephenie Meyer Twilight Series! (see photo)! It's reading and relaxing that help me deal w/all the avm crap (excuse my french)! Of course I couldn't do any of this w/out the most amazing husband in the world! Mark patiently helps clean me up, cleans the wound area and redresses it better than any wound care therapist ever could! He never complains, just gives me lots of hugs and reassurance! He took the photos of Saba and Ryan and put it on the computer so I could include it in my blog! I am really blessed to have so many prayers and friends and family that care - Thank You so much!

Please include my new e-mail buddy Marijn from Holland. He is going through a lot w/his avm and will be having surgery soon. Don't want to disclose much since I don't have his permission, but prayers would be so much appreciated!

XXOO's!

Cyndi

P.S. I want to thank my Aunts - Josie Sanchez and Sister J. (and my sister Celia) for all signing Shalons guestbook on her website! Thank you, it means a lot to her and to myself as well!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Greetings to All! I am dedicating this entry to the staff @ Swedish for always being so awesome, that they are like a second family to us! This is also for someone who wrote an e-mail to me from Holland - his name is Marijn and he also has an avm! Dr. Yakes assisted Marijn's Radiologist on a procedure in Holland, so I wanted a chance to show Marijn some of the people that help me on my avm journey!

In the photos you'll see Julie Labadie (middle photo)- she is Dr. Yakes Nurse and sooo good about being there for you! She was the first medical person I talked to after contacting the patient coordinator @ the time - Lezlie Frank! I kept telling Julie how many other doctors had promised they could help and she kept assuring me that Dr. Yakes would be able to help me! She always calls after I'm home a week or so after a procedure to see how I'm doing and answers e-mails w/questions I have!

You'll also see Rhonda Sharp (top photo)- Dr. Yakes Physician Assistant. Poor Rhonda - she's the one I would call @ all hours when I would have a bleed! Luckily, we've finallly "gotten used to" having those bleeds, so we don't wake her up too often any more! She has a great sense of humor and is great about explaining all the meds I have to take!

Of course I have to show a photo of the main man - Dr. Yakes! He has a wonderful bedside manner! When my sister Celia met him for the first time, she got up and said, "Wow! I feel like I'm meeting a Rock Star"! Dr. Yakes is amazing and super nice and comforting!

(You can see a picture of me w/Eric, the new P.A. in my timeline photos! He is very nice, easy to talk to and seems to enjoy his new job @ Swedish!)

I have to mention some of my favorite nurses! Dave - so full of energy and enthusiastic about everything he does - great @ his job! Don - so good @ his job - he anticipated what I needed before I even asked for it! Always made me feel very well cared for and comfortable! Julianne - so sweet! I always look horrible after a procedure and she made me feel special and always hugged me! Jimara is no longer w/Swedish, but she was great fun to talk to! Brett - super nice and will just be back from her honeymoon on an Alaskan Cruise when I see her again! She always makes me feet great - very warm and friendly! My new favorite nurse - Gina! She and I are avid readers apparently, so this gives us something great in common! Gina is nice enough to chat a while when she comes in to give me my meds in the middle of the night! Of course we can't forget Rosie! She is from Puerto Rico and used to be in Housekeeping - went back to school and now she is a tech! So she fills me in on the latest when she comes in to take my vitals! Rosie would help me communicate w/JoAnna from Portugal! Of course you already know Saba, another tech, from one of my earlier blogs!

These are the people that make my avm journey bearable when I'm in Colorado! I have to mention Sue, my favorite nurse in Ambulatory Care and Rick, my favorite Recovery Room Nurse! They are both hilarious and do their jobs well! I can't imagine when my treatments are finally over - that I won't be seeing these people anymore! I spent my last birthday with them this year! They couldn't believe I was having a treatment on my birthday - but why not be with my other family, right?

Ok, here's hoping I don't have any bleeds to report any time soon!

Take care everyone! We'll keep you posted on the latest! Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Hi Everybody!

Well, I had been doing pretty well lately, but I could feel I was starting to get sick - like getting congested. My voice was going and I knew I would start having some problems soon. So this morning right after I got to work - I felt this incredible need to hack - had some phlegm to get rid of! Yuck, I know! Soon as I did that, I mean the blood let loose from my wound area! In just seconds, my polo shirt was covered in blood, it was filling up the wound area and down my arm! I immediately grabbed some napkins in my desk and grabbed my wound care bag and headed down the hall to the bathroom. No time to tell anyone where I worked, I knew I left blood on the floor and doorknob leaving the area where I work! On my way to the bathroom, I ran into Mr. Rivera - one of the County workers that is also one of my best friends Dad! I told him I was in a rush to the bathroom as I was having a bleed. He called out for me to be careful! I was able to get the bleeding under control and went back to my work area. Ran into several co-workers that asked if I was ok or needed any help! Managed to get the blood off the floor and off the doorknob. Luckily, my co-worker and friend Diana was available to help me out! She's already experienced several of my bleeds and is familiar w/my situation! She followed me back to the bathroom to help me re-dress the wound area, but not before I had gone to show my supervisor Mr. Rios what had happened. Once he saw the front of my shirt full of blood, he of course understood I needed to get that under control. I have to say the Diana was wearing a pretty yellow jacket and print skirt and she managed to not get any blood on her when she was helping me! Whew! I was glad for that! Unfortunately, later in the morning, while she was talking to a co-worker, he made her laugh as she was drinking her coffee, so she spilled some of that on her dress! Darn! Oh well - better coffee than blood, huh?

Once Diana and I got the area redressed, I went ahead and called my primary care physicians office to work me in, as I knew I would be needing to get my congestion under control! I can't afford to be hacking and bleeding from my wound are from the force of the cough! Mark ended up being able to go with me - he wanted to show the doctor the wound area, as we are hoping to be able to get me some Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment. "The treatment delivers 100% oxygen, which is roughly 5 times the amount that a normal person recieves from just breathing air. And because it is done under pressure at 2.4 ATA, I end up with 12 times the concentration of oxygen in my blood. Because my AVM was "stealing" the regular blood flow from going to the wound and delivering the oxygen needing for healing, the wound had no chance of getting better. With the increase in oxygen level due to HBOT, and better blood flow due to recent embo's, I really feel like the affected tissue is finally getting some much needed oxygen and that the healing process is underway." The past few sentences were taken from Shalons website to describe how she got Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment. My doctor is looking into it for me as my needing a second opinion and working on getting a referral for my insurance for it. We'll see what happens - we're hoping I can have this done and get this wound area closed already!

Mark got compliments from the doctors staff on his wound care therapy! They told him they hoped he was getting paid well for it! "Oh yeah"! Mark said, "I get paid with kisses"!

Meanwhile, lets all take a moment to wish my father-in-law George Schuman a Happy Birthday today! He turns 76! I have a lot of family and friends on from the Schuman camp praying for me as well!

It's pretty much time to call it a day! Still have to iron my clothes for work tomorrow and I just want to wash my face and go to bed! May all of you be doing well these days! We'll be in touch!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Hi Everyone!

Well, we were are gearing up to celebrate Gregs birthday today! He wants a rhubarb pie instead of a birthday cake, so... his wife Celia and my husband Mark each took on that responsibility! Actually, Mark made 2 pies (with the crust from scratch) - a rhubarb/strawberry pie and a rhubarb/pineapple pie! While Mark had his pies in the oven, I was on the computer ... and I felt an itch right under the top of the tegaderm. (Where my wound dressing is) I scratched it and then I looked @ my finger and saw red. Uh oh, I thought it was maybe a slight bleed, so I got up to look in the bathroom mirror. Nope! The wound area was filling up w/blood. Yikes! I called out to Mark and he ran to get the wound care bag as I got to the kitchen sink! I had a hard time telling where the blood was coming from - I would have to pull off the tegaderm! Mark was waiting w/a piece of surgicel, and when I pulled the tegaderm off, a stream of blood jetted out! Yowza! After putting pressure on the area, we got surgicel on there and had it under control! Before going out to the island, we went to Walgreens to pick up some much needed prescribed ointment that Mark puts on my wound area! We then headed out to join the rest of our family!

Here is a photo of me w/the birthday boy! He and my sister make all our trips to CO possible! They very generously decided they're making sure I get the necessary help in order to beat this avm! Here I am w/Greg and Saba! See the beautiful flower arrangement? Celia got those for Greg and arranged them herself! We ended up having a great evening, having dinner, dessert and playing Farkle! Here is more of my support group - my mom and her husband Vicente! He is a big fan of mine and always reminds mom to check on Cinderella! The other photo of course is my sister Celia and her husband Greg! Celia accompanies me on these Colorado trips sometimes to give my husband Mark a break once in a while! The only good thing about this avm is I think it's brought us even closer as a family! I'm so blessed to have a family full of faith and love and lots of strength! I'm so proud to say how our family came together during this time of crisis to help me get through this! It has certainly brought my husband Mark and I even closer! We had a great marriage already, but now we've come to realize how much we deeply love each other!